


Kal AU: The Fire

by wheel_pen



Series: Alice [33]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Naughtiness, Red Kryptonite, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:50:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU subseries of Alice series. Kal and Clark save some friends from a fire. Then Kal promptly tarnishes his halo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kal AU: The Fire

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Alice, my original female character, is new in Smallville. There is something special about her, and she and Clark form a relationship.
> 
> 2\. This series starts after the end of the second season—after the destruction of the spaceship and Clark abruptly leaving town.
> 
> 3\. Underage warning: This story may contain human or human-like teenagers, in high school, in sexual situations.
> 
> 4\. The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this AU. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.

            The crowd had gathered rapidly outside the flaming school building and the police were hard-pressed to keep them back. Not that anyone would _want_ to get that much closer, what with the rumors of mysterious explosions and the fire licking out the broken windows, but the surge of gawkers from the back almost pushed those in front closer than the fire marshal had said was safe.

            Lana had worked her way all through the crowd, her petite frame and forcefulness aiding her search, but she got all the way to the front without having seen either of her two friends. There were several possible explanations for the absence of Chloe and Pete from the crowd, but one was far more terrifying than the others—that they were still inside the building.

            “Officer! Officer!” she shouted, grabbing the attention of a policeman. “My friends are missing! They might still be in there!”

            The stocky man shook his head. “Firefighters can’t go in,” he explained brusquely, shoving back on the crowd around him. “They said the propane tank in back could go any minute. Get back, you!”

            “But—“ The man was already moving away, towards someone who had stumbled over the barricade. Cold terror gripped Lana’s heart. She didn’t know for a _fact_ that Chloe and Pete were in there, but—given that this was Smallville, they probably were. Of course, given that this _was_ Smallville, the one person who could, somehow, save them ought to be along right about—

            “Lana! What’s going on?” Clark, clad in his usual plaid flannel, appeared at her side as if by magic.

            Clark Kent’s sense of timing might not be normal, but it was definitely life-saving. “Clark! Pete and Chloe, I think they’re still in there—“

            He stared intensely at the building, scanning it, as though he could see _through_ it, Lana thought, although that was of course impossible. An instant later, he nodded, more to himself than to Lana, and his expression became determined. “Stay here,” he told her firmly.

            “Clark!” He waited only until the nearest police officers had turned away, then hopped the barrier and ran into the building, disappearing behind the heavy fire doors.

            Barely ten seconds later, before Lana had even begun to process her prayers for her friends’ reappearance, a familiar voice again called her name. “Lana! What’s happening?”

            Lana’s jaw dropped as Clark again stood beside her—but wearing different clothing, this time a green t-shirt and black leather jacket. Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before she managed, “You were just here—you ran into the school—“

            Clark looked from her to the inferno before them. “Why would I do that?” he asked her, less concerned than Lana thought he ought to be about the fact that she was seeing double.

            “Um—uh—Pete and Chloe are in there,” she sputtered.

            This time Clark’s response was even faster. “Stay here,” he ordered, then leaped over the barricades and charged for the doors, knowing the police wouldn’t chase him more than a few feet. And a moment later, Clark had disappeared inside—for the second time.

 

            Blurring through the hallways, x-ray vision scanning just as fast, the teenager skidded to a halt beside the _Torch_ offices, where a mirror image version of himself was scooping a coughing Chloe up. “Pete’s in the gym,” was all his twin said. “Meet you out on the football field.” The leather-jacketed figure nodded once and was gone.

            An instant later he found himself in the boys’ locker room, where Pete had retreated from the encroaching flames. “Pete!” he shouted. “Come on!”

            “Kal!” Pete seemed surprised, if also immensely relieved. “Chloe’s still at the _Torch_ —“

            “She’s okay. Come on!” Sparing a smirk, he commented, “Don’t take this the wrong way,” and grabbed the shorter teenager close so he could pick him up and speed back down the halls. Within seconds they were out of the burning building, far from the commotion, in the center of the dark football field.

            His twin and Chloe were already waiting for them, and Pete was deposited on the ground next to the blond. The leather-jacketed figure knelt at their sides, examining them both as best he could for signs of smoke inhalation. The plaid-wearing teenager hung back.

            “Chloe! Pete! Are you guys okay?”

            Pete coughed, eyes watering with lingering acridity. “J---s C----t, Kal, you really saved my a-s—I didn’t think you had it in you, no offense, man—“ he gushed.

            Meanwhile Chloe had decided that her double vision had nothing to do with an injury she had sustained and she was gaping openly. “What the— _two_ Clark Kents? What the h—l is going on?” When neither Clark answered, both preferring instead to avoid her gaze, she turned on Pete. “Pete! What is this?”

            Crumbling, Pete sheepishly replied, “Well, um, actually, there _aren’t_ two Clark Kents. There’s _one_ Clark Kent”—he indicated the curiously detached teenager in flannel—“and _one_ Kal”—the figure in the leather jacket.

            This did not help Chloe at all. “Who’s Kal?” she demanded.

            “Actually,” the teenager in the dark jacket answered, straightening up, “he’s Kal. And I’m Clark.” And how weird was it to introduce himself to friends he’d known for years?

            Now Pete was staring at them, too, until finally he shook his head and commented, “Well, it figures, Kal would go after the girl first.”

            “Sorry, man,” Kal shrugged, not exactly sounding sorry. “I was gonna come back for you. Unless of course Chloe needed a little mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, in which case your a-s probably would’ve been fried.”

            “Well, it’s nice to know where I rank,” Pete muttered, although he honestly couldn’t get mad since he had, of course, been rescued.

            “What. Is. Going. On?” Chloe shouted, struggling to stand on wobbly legs. She swatted away Clark’s assistance when he tried to reach for her.

            “Um, Chloe,” Clark began carefully, “this is Kal. My twin brother.”

            “You don’t—you don’t _have_ a twin brother,” the blond protested.

            “Well, Chloe,” Pete pointed out, hauling himself to his feet (without assistance offered). “I think it’s pretty obvious that he _does_. Since we’re looking at him and all.”

            “Unless you have a better explanation for me,” Kal challenged her, flirtatious smirk in place as he drifted closer. That expression was _not_ one she associated with Clark Kent. “Maybe I’ve been surgically altered to look like Farmboy here. Or maybe I’m a clone,” he suggested facetiously. “Although personally I think they improved upon the original...”

            “Kal,” Clark told him warningly, then turned back to Chloe, who was regarding them both as she would a two-headed purple dragon. “We were separated at birth—or, you know, before we were adopted. My parents didn’t even know I _had_ a twin brother. Kal was adopted by a family in Ohio.”

            “Ohio?” Chloe gasped, latching on to the last word she’d heard.

            “High in the middle, round at both ends,” Kal recited to her, managing to make even _that_ hoary joke sound like an innuendo.

            “And he saw my picture online,” Clark continued, desperately willing Chloe to believe, “and he contacted me, and—um...” Well, that was all he had, really.

            Chloe was not the fainting type. Chloe had faced down a _lot_ of bizarre people and events, and she had the photos, articles, even the death threats to prove it. And she had never once lost her wits or her consciousness. So she decided to chalk her sudden dizziness up to smoke inhalation.

            Strong arms caught her and propped her back up. “Chloe?” She pried her eyes back open and she would have sworn in any court that it was Clark leaning above her, gazing down on her with concerned green eyes, giving her a little smile that said there was no one else in the world for him at that moment. Then the smile slid into a smirk, the concern gave way to a faint leer as he realized she was alright, and despite the flannel she knew _exactly_ who he was.

            Chloe put her hands on his chest and shoved, and she had the distinct impression she only pushed him back because he allowed her to. “ _You’re_ the one who kissed me on the bridge!”

            “You act like there’s something wrong with that,” Kal answered innocently.

            “You _kissed_ her?!” Clark demanded angrily, grabbing Kal’s collar to swing him around.

            “J---s f-----g C----t, Clark,” Kal responded sourly, “so what if I did? I _like_ Chloe, and it’s not like I have a girlfriend or anything...”

            “You—let me think you were Clark,” Chloe hissed angrily. Here she’d spent so many days feeling _guilty_ every time she caught a glimpse of Alice...

            “Chloe, I’m really sorry,” Clark apologized, not letting go of Kal. “Sometimes he can cause trouble.”

            “Hey!” Kal exclaimed indignantly, “who the f—k was the _first_ one to race into a _burning f-----g building_ to save _your_ friends?” He knocked Clark’s hand off his collar, then started unbuttoning the shirt.

            “What-what are you doing?” Clark demanded, bemused.

            “This flannel s—t gets old _fast_ ,” Kal told him, still upset. “Gimme my clothes back.”

            “Fine.” Clark dumped the jacket on the ground, then stripped his t-shirt off and held out his hand for his own shirt.

            “Holy s—t,” Chloe commented in surprise. “Did you grow up on a farm, too?”

            It took them a moment to realize she was staring, wide-eyed, at Kal’s bare chest. Pete rolled his eyes. With not one but _two_ supermen in the area, his own chances with Chloe just dropped from zero to negative.

            Kal smirked at her again and paused his efforts to put the t-shirt over his head. “Iron foundry,” he replied gamely, lying easily. “Lots of shoveling coal in a dark, sweltering room...”

            “Grow up,” Clark told him with some disgust. “And put some clothes on.” He was already buttoning up his long-sleeved shirt.

            “I think I’m going to go to Metropolis and become an underwear model,” Kal announced suddenly, still shirtless. “Whadya think about that, Chloe?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

            “I think, um...” Chloe lost her train of thought for a moment, then refocused and turned towards Clark. “I think you should have told me about him sooner, Clark. How long have you known about him?”

            Kal yanked the shirt over his head so hard he almost tore it. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!” he snapped at them, causing Pete to cast a worried glance at Clark.

            Chloe was staring at Kal again, but this time her gaze contained something like... recognition. “I _have_ seen you before,” she decided slowly, unintimidated by his glare. “It wasn’t Clark I saw in that club in Metropolis last summer—it was _you_.”

            Kal grinned at her again, but it was a cold expression. “Very perceptive, Chloe,” he told her snidely. “Clark and I were taking a much-needed vacation in the urban jungle.”

            “And a couple years ago, when we all thought Clark had to be on drugs, because he was blowing off school and dragging Lana to bars and maxing out his parents’ credit cards—“

            Clark shifted uncomfortably, toeing a hole in the football field, but Kal just grinned. “My first attempt at playing the part of Clark Kent,” he admitted. “I’ve never been that good an actor.”

            “Clark, I _cannot_ believe you didn’t tell me this sooner!” Chloe berated. “You just let us all think that it was _you_ , acting this way, when we were so _worried_ —“

            “Well, um...” Clark kept his eyes firmly on the ground, guilt gnawing at him.

            “Hey,” Kal cut in, physically blocking Clark from Chloe’s tirade. “Don’t you _dare_ start f-----g heaping guilt on Clark for this. He’s saved your a-s more times than he can count from mutants, psychos, and your own g-----n stupidity”—Chloe looked taken aback, Clark rubbed his hands over his eyes in resignation, and Pete’s expression hardened—“and all you can do is give him s—t for _presuming_ to keep some part of his life a secret from you? Who is Chloe f-----g Sullivan, that she deserves to know every g‑‑‑‑‑n nook and cranny of life in Smallville?! You sure as h—l weren’t eager to tell Clark that you made a deal with _Lionel Luthor_ to get your column in the _Daily Planet_ , in exchange for investigating Clark!”

            “I—I never—I didn’t—“ Chloe turned her wet, pleading gaze to Clark, over Kal’s shoulder and saw that this news was not a revelation to him—he had known, for how long she wasn’t sure, but he had never said anything. Clark’s eyes held a strange combination of guilt and accusation. “Clark, I would never—hurt—“

            Kal raised an eyebrow, as if to say, “Oh yeah?” He never got the chance to follow up with a comment, however, because suddenly Pete was in his face—or as much in his face as he could be, standing eight inches shorter. “That’s _enough_ , Kal,” he growled, with surprising ferocity. “I think you’ve about worn out your welcome in Smallville.”

            Kal’s eyes widened, not with fear of course, but rather incredulity, at the idea that Pete was seriously challenging him. “Pete,” he half-chuckled, which infuriated the other teen even more, “last time I checked you weren’t an f-----g idiot, but right now you must be thinking with you d—k instead of your brain—“ He grabbed the front of Pete’s shirt for emphasis and started lifting easily—until Clark jumped in.

            “Kal!” He threw himself between the two teenagers, knocking Pete back out of the way. Hopefully his friend would forgive his less-than-soft landing, if it got him out of Kal’s hands. And got Chloe running to his side. “What the h—l do you think you’re doing?” Clark hissed, hopefully out of earshot of his friends.

            “Whatever I feel like,” came the angry reply. Kal glanced over Clark’s shoulder. “I’m out of here. You’ve got company.” When Clark turned to see Lana and Sheriff Adams headed in their direction, Kal bolted the opposite way.

            “Where’d he go?” Chloe asked in confusion, looking around. The field was entirely empty except for the five of him.

            “Chloe! Pete! Clark! You’re okay!” Lana was exclaiming as she reached them.

            “Mr. Kent,” Sheriff Adams began in her long-suffering tone. “Once again you have interfered with official business, and don’t think that _just_ because you saved a couple people you’re going to get off the hook...”


End file.
